


By the Book

by Sentinel_of_Mischief



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 10:16:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4702346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sentinel_of_Mischief/pseuds/Sentinel_of_Mischief
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shield AU. Brock Rumlow gets a new batch of agents to train for his STRIKE team, and a certain young woman catches his attention. Agent Vestal also has eyes for Rumlow. Will they admit their attraction for each other, or will they stick to the rules and let their feelings pass them by?</p>
            </blockquote>





	By the Book

Heather checked her watch. 5:55am. She sighed, readjusted her ponytail and leaned up against the flagpole outside the SHIELD training facility. She opened her new SHIELD handbook to read. Page one was a brief intro to SHIELD, which was a fascinating read, but she had grown up wanting to BE Peggy Carter, so she was already familiar with the history. She plucked grass from the ground and rolled the pieces between her fingers as she began reading.

At exactly 6:00am, a young man of medium height strolled up and nodded at her. "Agent," he acknowledged. His voice was low and scratchy, matching the stubble on his face. It appeared he had run out of time to shave after styling his hair. He was wearing a tight black shirt with the SHIELD emblem on one arm and black cargo pants. The ensemble was complete with a pair of black, standard SHIELD issue boots. 

Hearher nodded back, and knew this had to be her instructor, Agent Brock Rumlow.

At 6:01, the rest of the class (all men) straggled onto the green, chattering amongst themselves. Heather scrambled up and joined them, brushing the dirt from her rear. 

Rumlow paced back and forth in front of them, which got the class's attention. His dark brown eyes studied them and they watched him uneasily. It was several more paces before he stood stock-still in front of them. Arms crossed and legs spread apart, he looked formidable. Then he began to speak.

"You're dead. You're dead. You're all dead-except you-," he had been pointing to the new recruits individually, then made a sweeping motion to include everyone in his statement, until he pointed to Heather. "-unless you listen to me and do what you're told." 

He paused, and resumed pacing. "Do you know what can happen in one minute?" He ticked a list off on his fingers "Diffuse a bomb, take down numerous enemies, do thirty pushups. A minute is important. A minute can mean the difference between coming home a hero, or coming home in a body bag." 

His facial expression softened, as he stopped and scanned his recruits. "So next time, let's all be here at oh six hundred, okay?"

"Yes, sir!" The recruits snapped to attention. 

"Okay, now that we have that straightened out, let's go for a run!" Rumlow clapped his hands, and Heather and the others broke out into a run around the grounds. 

Rumlow ran beside of them, offering a mixture of encouragement and critiques.

"Pick your feet up, Rollins!"

"Did I say you could walk, Kearny? That's right, I didn't."

"Nice form," he jogged along side of Heather long enough to pass the compliment with a wink, then continued on by.

Heather nodded as a thank you, knowing if she tried to speak, her rhythm would be thrown off. She couldn't help noticing as he jogged by how his sweat-soaked tahirt clung to his rippling muscles. His exposed arms and his face both glistened in the morning sun.

"Stop it," she muttered to herself, and tried to keep breathing. Eyes on the prize. She was almost done with the 10 mile run. The last thing she needed right now was to be staring after her SO. Shaking her head, she cleared her mind and focused on her burning muscles. 

Rumlow finished the run first, and stopped in front of the flagpole where they had began. He put his hands on his knees and felt the sweat trickling down his back. He loved his morning runs, especially when there were recruits to break in. Still bent over and breathing heavily, he watched the others trail in and collapse in the grass. Everyone looked exhausted. That was to be expected. He had pushed them hard. They all preformed admirably, especially the young Agent Vestal. It wasn't a sexist thing, but he was impressed that she had been able to keep up. He had never had a female STRIKE agent before, but was willing to give her a try as he handpicked this batch of recruits. 

This was the first team of STRIKE agents he had picked himself. Others had been assigned to his team in the past, but they had all transferred, retired, or died in the line of duty. He knew not all his people he had picked would make it. 

The STRIKE team was specially created as a tactical, well, strike, against targets who needed to be taken out fast. Rumlow had found himself uprooted out of his bed in the wee hours of the morning and found himself halfway across the world before he put his pants on. He had become a pro at making life or death decisions on the fly. It had become his MO. He only hoped the recruits would be the same way.

Rumlow stood up and clapped to catch their attention. "Okay great effort from everybody. How about everyone find their desks inside and get them set up...maybe even grab a bit to eat, and then we hit the gym. Sound good?"

The new agents had been shown where their desks were already, so Brock had no qualms about letting them go alone. They could handle themselves for a while. It would be interesting to see how they were in his sanctuary, the gym.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!! Hopefully will have the next chapter up soon. Please feel free to leave feedback below!


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